There is a new name in custom drive technology: DRIVS Systems GmbH.
DRIVS is not starting from zero. The company has grown out of XITEC Engineering GmbH, where custom drive systems have increasingly developed from individual engineering projects into a discipline of their own.
One thing became clear in the process: anyone who wants not only to develop a custom drive, but also to supply it reliably in series over many years, needs a different structure from that of a traditional engineering service provider.
Where engineering services reach their limits
XITEC is an automation specialist and engineering service provider. Its deliverable is engineering: a concept, a design, a validated prototype or a documentation package.
That work can go very far. But eventually, a development reaches the point where it is handed over and the customer takes responsibility for industrialization and sourcing.
With a custom drive, a significant part of the work begins precisely at that point.
A suitable manufacturing partner has to be selected and qualified. Drawings and tolerances need to be transferred into series production, samples evaluated, components approved and supply chains established. Quality, engineering changes and availability then have to be managed throughout the entire product lifecycle.
A company that sells engineering does not necessarily have to carry that supply chain itself.
A company that supplies drives does.
One step further: the product, not the drawing
That is why DRIVS goes one step further.
We do not just develop the specification for a drive. We supply the drive itself.
Motor, gearbox, sensors and control electronics — typically BLDC motors together with their drive electronics — are considered as one complete system, starting from the requirements of the application, and are matched accordingly. Manufacturing is carried out to a defined specification through a qualified partner network. DRIVS takes responsibility for technical coordination, industrialization, quality approval and subsequent series supply.
For the customer, that means: they do not simply receive a drawing and then face the task of building the supply chain themselves. They receive a series-ready drive and one point of contact from the initial feasibility check through to ongoing series supply.
That is a different business model from selling engineering hours. It includes supplier selection and qualification, engineering change management, quality assurance, series logistics and responsibility for the delivered product throughout its lifecycle.
That is exactly what DRIVS was created for.
What we are changing
For traditional manufacturers, custom drive development often only becomes economically attractive at very high production volumes. Below that threshold, the catalogue is often the only realistic option.
That works — but it almost always means accepting a compromise. The motor is larger than necessary, the gearbox ratio is not ideal, noise levels are higher, efficiency is lower, or the available form factor unnecessarily dictates the overall product design. This weighs heaviest in brushless technology: winding, control electronics and gear ratio only deliver their potential once they are designed around the application.
And once the product has been developed around that compromise, correcting it later is difficult.
DRIVS takes a different approach.
We combine drive engineering in Austria with an established manufacturing network in Asia. Development, specification and system design remain closely aligned with the application. At the same time, specialized manufacturing partners provide a cost structure that can make custom solutions viable even where traditional drive manufacturers would still point customers toward standard components.
That is why DRIVS exists — and why it became a company of its own rather than simply a department.
What stays the same
XITEC continues its established business unchanged: automation, engineering, 3D metrology and 3D printing.
The two companies remain closely aligned in the way they work.
Development starts with the application — not with the catalogue.
What differs is the deliverable.
XITEC delivers engineering.
DRIVS delivers drives.
The experience and the people behind the drive projects developed to date also remain the same. DRIVS simply provides the structures required not only to engineer these projects, but also to industrialize them and support their long-term series supply.
If your product needs a drive that no catalogue solution truly fits, talk to us.
Start with a feasibility check. You will receive a technical assessment from the engineers who would also develop and industrialize the final solution.